Japanese Zen Garden

re you fond of Japanese gardening? Have you ever dreamed to make one of
your own? Then, this is the right page for you to find out on how to
build your own Japanese garden. In this post, you can find out all you need to know about Zen Japanese Garden, also known as Japanese Rock Garden.

The Best Japanese Rock Garden Ideas

Remember, that Japanese gardens are divided on their functions as discussed in the post about small Japanese garden.
The Zen Garden, Karensansui in Japanese, originated in XIV century, as a
devotion to the Zen Buddhist philosophy. The prominent feature of this
type of gardening is the absence of water.
A perfect Zen garden is composed of the carefully arranged rocks,
trimmed trees, moss and of course white gravel, that is representing
water. The garden does not necessarily have to be big, rather viewable
from a point, where you are meditating.
The main attribute of the Zen garden is the rock alignment. There is a
strict rock classification, the low vertical (the soul stone), the tall
vertical (Body Stone), flat (Heart Stone), arching (Branching stone)
and reclining stone (ox stone). The rocks are used in creating the
landscape, for instance the borders of the gravel “ocean” are primarily
small and round; those representing the big mountains are usually rough
and edgy. Rocks are usually placed in threes, with a tall vertical one
and two by its side, representing male, female and child statues.
The use of sand is discouraged, because it can be easily disrupted,
as opposed to gravel. The ripples on the gravel represent the wavy
surface of the water. Sometimes, there are even animal stone
representations that a certain action. So it is not uncommon for a Zen
garden to carry an easily read metaphorical message.